The Vacuum and the Watch
by WannaBeBabe
Summary: A one shot about two very important items that give Steph and Ranger the ending they should have had in Takedown Twenty. BABE ***Warnings for Takedown Twenty spoilers and some language***


_**Author Notes: I decided to give Takedown Twenty the ending I think it deserves, with the help of two important items from books 19 and 20. If you haven't read books 19 and 20 this won't make much sense, also, __**WARNING HUGE SPOILERS FOR TAKEDOWN TWENTY**__. That said, let me know if you like it. Thanks**_

Erik was sitting at the monitors when the alarm went off and Bombshell's watch started to broadcast sound. "Shit," he yelled hitting the alert. The sound would be sent directly to all vehicles, desks, and the phones of the RangeMan core team.

There was a thud and a groan before he heard the muffled sounds of a female crying in the background. He panicked for a moment before pulling up the GPS and all trackers assigned to Stephanie Plum. "Report!" came Ranger's voice over the comm. unit.

"All trackers and GPS are stationary at her apartment, sir," Erik shouted back.

"ETA two minutes," Ranger yelled. "No answer to her cell."

"ETA four minutes," Tank responded.

"ETA two minutes," Hal called.

"ETA three minutes," Manny said.

"Just pulling in," Lester called.

"Behind you Santos," Ranger said. Erik swallowed hard, two minutes had turned into thirty seconds. Ranger must have broken light speed in his Porsche.

Bobby, Ramon, and Cal joined Erik in the control room. There was nothing they could do now, but wait. The team was on the scene and would call for what they needed.

They heard the boots on the stairs before the sound of the wood splitting as someone kicked the door in. "Sweep the apartment," Ranger commanded.

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Ranger's heart was beating through his chest. There was no sound coming from the apartment. He kicked the door open with his gun in his hand. He saw her alone on the floor. Lester took off to do the usual sweep of the apartment as he moved to Steph's side. She was lying on the floor of the living room.

As he bent he saw the rise and fall of her body shaking with silent tears. Shit. Who hurt his babe? He scooped her into his arms and moved them so his back was against the wall and any threat would be clearly visible. He swiped her hair off her face as he looked down at her.

"Babe? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" he asked softly.

"Ranger?" she sobbed loudly.

"Shh, I got you. You're alright," he soothed. What the hell?

"Apartment is clear, no sign of entry," Lester said over the ear pieces they wore. By this point Lester joined the group of five other men in the hallway, waiting for word on their girl.

"Babe, can you talk to me?" Ranger asked. "What happened?"

"I, I, I got a vacuum cleaner," she sobbed again.

He looked across the room to where she had been lying. Sure enough there was a brand new vacuum cleaner sitting on the carpet. "Did it hurt you?"

She sobbed loudly, shaking her head no. "I won that stupid slow cooker and then I bought the vacuum." He held her a little tighter, rubbing his hand in circles on her back, breathing in her scent. She wasn't hurt, but something had scared the shit out of her.

"It's a good brand," he answered as he looked at the offending object.

She sobbed again. "It's top of the line. Just like my mom's," she cried loudly, sobbing again.

Ranger pressed his lips together, what the fuck was happening? "I think Ella has one like it too."

"Oh, God, Ranger," she said burying her head in his neck. "I don't want to be my mother."

"You could never be your mother, Babe." He patted her hair, irrational women were not his specialty, at all. Hell, it was always a good reason to avoid females in his book, but this one wormed her way into his life and look where it got him. He shook his head, who was he kidding, he wouldn't trade her for anything.

"I know. I thought I should try to be more domestic, but I can't do it." He kissed her curls, silly woman. Why anyone like her would want to change herself into something she wasn't was beyond his reasoning. He loved her just the way she was. She sobbed again. "I don't want to be a Morelli."

Ranger rolled his eyes over her head. Things were becoming much clearer. "What happened?"

She sniffled her nose. "I'm an idiot."

He sighed, "No, you're not. What happened?" He knew his voice was a little harder and sterner than it should have been, but he felt like he knew what he was going to hear next, and he really didn't want to hear it.

"I was sick of my job and my life going nowhere so I got the vacuum and went to Joe's to tell him I was ready to marry him." Yep, that was what he didn't want to hear.

"Today?"

"No, a couple weeks ago," she sniffled again.

God, how did he not know she had gotten engaged? "Babe."

She shook her head. "I got there and I couldn't do it, Ranger. I took off the other direction." He felt like a weight had been lifted again. Christ, she was going to kill him here. "I figured I'd calm down and come around to the idea eventually, but I started the vacuum earlier and it all hit me."

"What?"

"I don't want a vacuum or a slow cooker or kids that roll in dog shit and in-laws that pop over for games with casseroles and beer or a husband that calls his private parts _The Boys_," she said starting to blubber again. "I don't want to be Cupcake."

Ranger took in her words and couldn't hold his blank face anymore, she'd completely broken him. He started to silently laugh, then it grew louder, until he had his head tipped back and he was gasping for breath. _The Boys?_

"What?" she demanded glaring at him, the tears abandoned in her anger.

Now his eyes were tearing as he laughed. "I'm sorry, Babe," he got out in between his choking laughter.

"It's not funny, Ranger. Now what am I going to do?"

"Babe," he said taking a deep breath as he tried to get himself under control. "How about we donate the slow cooker and we put the vacuum in a locked room at RangeMan until you're ready for it?"

She swallowed hard as she looked over at it. "What if I'm never ready?"

"Then you're never ready," he said shrugging.

"You wouldn't think less of me?" she asked turning away from him.

He caught her chin, turning her back to him. "No, Babe, I wouldn't think less of you. Besides, I don't want a vacuum either, at least not right now." She nodded at him with the hint of a smile, so he decided to just go for it. "And I certainly don't want shit covered kids, my building is secured against in-law drop ins, and you know there is nothing boyish about my junk." She started laughing then. He smiled at her and kissed her nose. "And I really don't want you to be a Cupcake."

"You don't?" she asked with a little smile as she turned in his arms.

"No, I don't." He pulled her to him and kissed her sweet lips. God, he loved how she tasted. "You're my Babe."

"I am?"

"Always," he smiled before he kissed her again.

"Ranger, man, that was mighty sweet, but ask her to explain more about _The Boys_ would you?" Tank asked through the ear piece.

"Fuck," he said in a conversational tone as he reached over and turned off her watch. "You were broadcasting, Babe."

Her face turned bright red at that. "Shit. I put it on this morning when I went down to Stark Street. They all heard?" He nodded to her. "I'm going to hide in bed and never come out again."

"Then let's go back to my bed, unlimited Ella food, soft sheets, my shower gel," he whispered in her ear making her smile.

"Mm, you do know a way to a girl's heart, Ranger," she smiled at him.

"Only yours, Babe." She smiled as he lifted her to her feet. This whole future thing seemed to be a lot less murky now, maybe it was a good thing she'd bought that stupid vacuum.

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Erik was still trying to catch his breath as he looked over at the other guys in the control room. He thought they were all in shock at first, especially when they realized Steph wasn't hurt, but was upset about a vacuum cleaner of all things. They had all exchanged stunned looks, Steph emergencies were never a disappointment.

Though the true stunner was the way that Ranger spoke softly in that loving tone toward her. That had them all gape mouthed. Who would have ever thought Ranger had the capacity for such behavior? Not any of the guys he hung out with that's for sure. It was kind of scary.

As Steph started to explain what was wrong you could have heard a pin drop, but when she said she'd decided to marry Morelli, Cal kicked over a desk chair and said a few words that proved he really did swear like a sailor, Neanderthals those Navy men. Ramon hit him and pointed back at the monitors. Cal cursed again in relief when she said she couldn't do it.

He wasn't the only one relieved, all the guys relaxed. Bobby even let out a harsh breath and said, "Thank God. He would have killed us all down on the mats." That wasn't a lie, Ranger really would kill someone if Morelli won the girl.

When Ranger burst into laughter Erik was shocked again. He could laugh? Maybe Steph was even better for Ranger than he'd imagined. He let himself chuckle at the way she imagined life with the cop. The Boys indeed, what idiot calls the jewels that?

As they all sat around, leaning forward in their seats, listening to the back and forth between the apparent lovers the guys began to smile. This was it, the moment they'd been waiting four years for. Ranger and Stephanie were finally going to be officially unofficial.

There were fist bumps and money changing hands when the guys heard the kissing in the background. When Tank's voice came over the speaker telling Ranger he was real sweet, but they were still live the laughter erupted again with his softly cursed reply. The boss was finally unaware of his surroundings. They really had witnessed a miracle today, in more ways than one. God, he loved that watch.


End file.
